Thursday, May 29, 2008

An Evangelical Manifesto

a Biblical thought...
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. (1 Cor 10:13)

a Book thought...
God will download our software onto his hardware, until the time when he gives us new hardware to run the software again. (p175 Wright) a Dave thought...
First, to be Evangelical is to hold a belief that is also a devotion
Second, Evangelical belief and devotion is expressed as much in our worship and in our deeds as in our creed
Third, Evangelicals are followers of Jesus in a way that is not limited to certain churches or contained by a definable movement.
Fourth, as stressed above, Evangelicalism must be defined theologically and not politically; confessionally and not culturally.
Fifth, the Evangelical message, “good news” by definition, is overwhelmingly positive, and always positive before it is negative
Sixth, Evangelicalism should be distinguished from two opposite tendencies to which Protestantism has been prone: liberal revisionism and conservative fundamentalism.
Seventh, Evangelicalism is distinctive for the way it looks equally to both the past and the future.

This document was made public on May 7, 2008 to help USA and the wider world have a better understanding of what it means to be an evangelical. As the term often brings negative connotations here is an attempt to put it right.

Just a thought.

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